Game of Thrones: Mockingbird. You are the Wind Beneath My Wings.

This episode contained a ton of set up. This is one of those episodes that I have trouble judging how Watchlings would receive it. As I am watching I’m getting super excited about all that is about to happen which makes me wonder if all the Watchlings out there are bored or confused.

Jamie and Tyrion

We start out with Jamie and Tyrion arguing about Tyrion’s speech at the end of his trial. Jamie sees it as idiotic and Tyrion sees it as his only option to fight back. For all Jamie’s desire to have Tyrion shipped off to the Night’s Watch I wonder what his actions would have been in a similar situation. Tyrion makes very valid points to Jamie. Jamie was playing right into Tywin’s hands. He would have gotten rid of his embarrassment of son and gained his heir back to the place he wanted.

Tyrion’s pleas to get Jamie to fight for him are heartbreaking. Tyrion loves his brother and I do believe Jamie loves Tyrion, but Jamie also knows that he can’t beat the Mountain and I think Jamie feels powerless against his father and sister.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Jamie knows all to well about Tyrion falling in love with a whore. Tyrion married a girl when he was very young that he loved very much and said that she loved him. They lived together for a time and then Tywin told Tyrion that Jamie had hired the girl to have sex with Tyrion and then it had gotten out of control. Tywin took the girl and gave her to all his soldiers and then had Tyrion “service” her in front of everyone else. This has haunted Tyrion since that time and if the show follows the books Jamie is about to drop a revelation about this young girl very soon.

Cersei and The Mountain:

Cut to a huge guy disemboweling some people evidently for fun and Cersei watching. I’m not real sure where these people have come from. Do they keep people around just for him to slice up? That seems like a healthy past time. This scene mostly is just to set up that The Mountain is The Wu Tang Clan, Dr. Dre and Tupac all rolled into one huge scary person.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Are you aware that Cersei is a heartless conniving bitch? OK good. How about that The Mountain is a psychopath and has killed more people than I can count? OK good. So you got this.

The Hound and Arya:

Ahhh, my favorite homicidal travelers. Arya and The Hound have left quite a bit of death and destruction in their wake and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. The scene opens up with them riding up to a scene of mayhem and death. There is one person left, slowly dying from a wound to the stomach. The three of them talk about life, death and the everafter for a while. Then the conversation comes to an abrupt end when The Hound shoves a knife under the mans ribs into his heart. This was a mercy kill so the man didn’t have to slowly die a painful death there on the road. The Hound looks meaningfully at Arya and says “That’s where the heart is. That’s how you kill a man.” Then suddenly there is someone biting into The Hound’s neck and trying to kill him to which the Hound responds by quickly snapping the neck of his attacker. I would like to say that is also how you kill a man.

Since the one dude bit a chunk out of The Hound’s neck I’m assuming he’s Rorge’s counterpart Biter. Biter was supposed to be killed by Gendry, but I’ll take the change. It’s an acceptable alteration. Rorge likewise was killed in a different manner (Brienne killed him), but this was an awesome scene with Arya and stayed true to character. It does ask the question though, that if they are already dead now, will Brienne and Pod run into any action on the Kingsroad now?

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Arya did know who Rorge and Biter were. They joined the Bloody Mummers aka The Brave Companions with Jaqen H’ghar and helped Arya free the Northman that were captured at Harrenhall. Also they were scarier in the book then they are in the show. Also The Hound should have already been seriously injured so I’m wondering if this bite will turn into something serious since he wouldn’t let Arya cleanse it with fire. Oh we haven’t gotten to that part yet? OK sorry, continue.

Meanwhile on the Wall:

We see Janos Slynt singling out Jon Snow and trying to make him look like a coward, an idiot and a traitor. This break it mostly just to remind you that there is stuff going on at the Wall that will be important later. So yeah. Janos is a douche. Jon knows what he’s talking about. Let’s continue.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Winter is coming. Oh yeah, I think you’ve picked up on that.

Bronn and Tyrion:

Bronn very succinctly explains why he won’t be Tyrion’s champion. I think that this rejection hurts a lot worse then Jamie’s. It’s logical. Bronn was always for Bronn (the dwarves are for the dwarves!) and it wouldn’t fit if he suddenly changed. However, I do think that Bronn wished that he was a better man. A more loyal man. But at the end of the day he is just Bronn: The Sell Sword.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Nope. This was pretty much word for word from the books. And done amazingly well. Look that that last touch that Bronn throws in though. Yep, he really does care about Tyrion. The only other thing I’d add is that you may have forgotten that Lollys is knocked up with a baby from her gang rape that occurred when they sent Marcella off to Dorne. Bronn later names that baby Tyrion and I think he does that just to let Cersei know that she may have bought his cooperation, but not his loyalty (if he actually had much left).

Dany and Daario Naharis:

So Dany sends Daario to kill the Masters, but not before she exercised her right of first night with Daario. Hmmm or maybe she’s just been alone with guys for a really long time and liked the way Daario massages. . .his knives. Anyway, insert sex scene– wait scratch that– insert sex scene that isn’t shown.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

Dany has been fantasizing about this for a while so she’s mostly just doing this for herself. It leads to some sticky situations later, but really as I’ve stated before Dany is just boring right now. Of course putting her in that dress makes her more interesting.

Melisandre and Selyse:

As if to make up for not showing the sex scene between Daario and Dany we see the Red Woman naked for an uncomfortably long time. Blah, blah, blah, they are both crazy and creepy. Oh and evidently the Red Woman wants Seylse’s daughter along just in case they need to sacrifice her to the Red God. Totally normal.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

You’ve probably gotten everything you need out of this. They are both really weird and really creepy. The Red Woman will become more and more important as time goes on.

Dany and Jorah:

Yeah I’m not even going to address this. We are reminded once again Dany is a strong female character. We got it.

The Hound and Arya

I mentioned before the whole fire/infection issue. I am curious as to where this is going to take us. I doubt that the sketchy water Arya washed it out with is going to fix it. The Hound is one of those characters (like Jamie Lannister) that I truly hated for so long, but then once I got to see his character develop I love him. I want to hug and protect him as no one ever did for him. Imagine having to live with someone that you were always afraid they might kill you for the fun of it. Yeah, just not cool.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

The Mountain is the head of the house because his father died under suspicious circumstances as did his sister and his two wives. The Mountain is also known for killing people on a whim. So yeah his baby brother might have a few issues he needs to work through. Evidently the Stark girls bring out all the good in him.

Brienne and Pod:

The adventure continues with our daring duo. Hot Pie offers some comedy relief and Brienne’s expressions are priceless. However Hot Pie does come through in the end and spills the beans on Arya. Good thing Brienne isn’t one of the bad guys.

What the Watchlings don’t know:

In the books something big is about to go down with these two. We’ll see if it happens in the show. My only spoiler/theory/thought that I’d like to add is to the readers out there. What if the one word Brienne says at a critical moment is Arya? We’ll see. (EDIT: My brother pointed out to me that GRRM has confirmed that they word she said was sword– so I was wrong). They are now on their way to the Erie which in and of itself is a bit different than the books so maybe we’ll all be surprised.

The Red Viper and Tyrion:

Out of all the people Tyrion didn’t expect to visit him Prince Oberyn was probably very high on that list. This whole conversation is mostly word for word out of the books. It was more heartbreaking to watch than to read. Cersei has hated Tyrion for so long. Because of his deformity, or the fact that their mother died during childbirth, or because he interrupted what she had with Jamie. Who knows? All I know is that it was painful to watch Oberyn tell Tyrion about his visit all those years ago.

And the emotion that Tyrion showed when Oberyn made his announcement was perfect. I know Tywin wasn’t expecting that in response. After all why would Oberyn help a Lannister?

Sansa and Littlefinger:

Back to the Erie and some creepiness. Sansa builds a snow Winterfell and Robyn (aka Robert) acts like a little sh#t and gets slapped for it. Fearing repercussions Sansa kinda panics to Littlefinger who gives her some speech about how he thinks of her like his daughter and then grabs her and kisses her. Yeah not weird at all. Lysa sees it all and of course that bodes well for Sansa right? Or maybe not. Lysa freaks out and threatens Sansa by pushing her towards the Moon Door. Littlefinger responded this way:

What the Watchlings don’t know:

In the books there was a musician hanging around that this murder was pinned on. I’m not sure how they are going to play this here. Needless to say Sansa has learned a lot about the kind of person Littlefinger is and I don’t think she’ll make the same mistakes Lysa or Catelyn made. Littlefinger becomes more creepy as does Robert Robyn.